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How to promote yourself

I've been doing magic for a while, but I've never really promoted myself. I've performed for friends at parties, even did some street magic at my local outlet mall. I've even done a few bar tricks to get a few free beers.

But my question is how should I promote myself to get actual gigs? I started putting my magic on my youtube channel (check it out and give feedback if you want, it's named Decarow). But I don't know where to start when it comes to getting gigs with businesses, schools, birthday parties, etc.

I've been doing magic for a while, but I've never really promoted myself. I've performed for friends at parties, even did some street magic at my local outlet mall. I've even done a few bar tricks to get a few free beers.

But my question is how should I promote myself to get actual gigs? I started putting my magic on my youtube channel (check it out and give feedback if you want, it's named Decarow). But I don't know where to start when it comes to getting gigs with businesses, schools, birthday parties, etc.

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Well...I have some experience...currently I am doing the transition between amateur and Pro...and it involves a lot of promotion...but before anyone can give advice...

what is your goal? in magic as a bussiness...do you want it to be a side job or a full time job?
How is your show? tell us something about the show you have or you are planing...
Who do you want to be your target maket? kids parties, restaurants. corporate gigs...you tell us
How many experience do you have? performing for money or any kind of pay..
How Old are you? does it matter?....yes...

Once you answer these questions...we will be able to provide a better answer for you situation....there is some pro´s around here that will be more than glad to help: Rick Everhart, Benji Bruce, William Draven, Reality One, to name a few....

Btw...if you look in recent threads..you will find one of mine called "Urban Legend Project" is a tecnique I am doing to promote myself around...aside from my other promotions...I think it could accomodate your style...check it out!!

I would just like to add, if you are using youtube to promote your magic, it might be best if you had only your magic videos on that channel. I say that because I noticed you had a lot more "non magic" videos than you had "magic" videos. Also, my opinion (and I'm sure others too) I prefer watching live magic videos instead of these 1 on 1 with a webcam videos. Just my .02 cents

Promoting myself to where I am now has NOTHING to do with shooting videos of myself and posting on youtube or online at all for that matter.

WORD OF MOUTH travels like wildfire in your hometown. See Jaimie's thread. Every gig I do, I make sure I blow them away, GIVE THEM "more than what they paid for" and then hand out business cards to the client to also hand out to some of their guests at the conclusion of the party.

I also make it a point to ask if THEY have a business card for me to possibly follow up later if their business could use me at an event.

If you want to make money performing than your first step is you have to define who you want to perform for. Once you know who you're going to perform for you start marketing to them.

Learn to treat marketing like a seduction. The first step of seduction is to choose the right person, a.k.a. your target market. The second step of seduction is to approach indirectly. You want to get people to come to you. So you have to do things that get people to notice you but you can't approach them.

If I tell you how great I am and how am going to make your event spectacular and how much I charge, then you won't have a desire to hire me. But if you see me performing, then you will approach me and ask me to perform for you. I cannot stress this enough. Learn to do things that get people to want to do business with you instead of you approaching them.

Take a look at my Facebook… www.Facebook.com/BenjiBruce. You will notice that everything about my Facebook tells you that I'm a performer. You see videos of me in action, you see video testimonials, and you see me working. When people see that you're performing they want you to perform for them. Learn to approach indirectly.

I won't go into detail about this but if you want to approach them directly on Facebook then make your page strictly business and add people who can hire you. I wanted to work with an event planner but there is no use calling them up because they have to see you perform before they're willing to hire you. So I had her on Facebook, she saw everything that I was doing on Facebook, and she asked me to do a show for her. Give out all that you wish to receive. Contemplate on that last sentence deeply.

So your first step is to determine who you want to perform for and then you have to figure out how your target market buys. If you do kid shows than advertising in the yellow books and online will book shows. If you do corporate events then you will notice that they hang out in hotels, they talk to high profile event planners, and the number one way they hire you is from having seen you in the first place.

If you want to get paid like a professional you have to look like a professional. You have to dress in a suit. You need video footage of you performing for a group. Everything about you says something.

Your number one goal right now is to sell sell sell. Perform for people in mention that you're doing a lot of shows. Before you start your trick say, “I do this at my shows and people freak out.” Always use comments like these to entice people to ask you specific questions about what kind of shows you do and where you do them. Your purpose is to get them to come to you. Don't ask them if they will hire you, show them that other people are hiring you and they have the chance to do so.

I would go more into detail but it would be an entire book so I recommend you take a look at my blog www.paidtoperform.blogspot.com which has a ton of information about marketing.

Benji's advice is top notch however my problem that I run into currently is that I do a VARIETY of things such as kids b-day parties, corporate picnics, balloon sculpting, etc. and I am a school teacher as well so I don't market to just one audience demographic. Should I? I don't know because I do very well performing in all of the aforementioned ways. It is a tough call but not significant for me because I am not full-time professional. I do encourage posting testimonials and photos from your gigs on your website because this is the "proof" in the pudding that you are out in the trenches doing what you claim you can do.

Benji's advice is top notch however my problem that I run into currently is that I do a VARIETY of things such as kids b-day parties, corporate picnics, balloon sculpting, etc. and I am a school teacher as well so I don't market to just one audience demographic. Should I? I don't know because I do very well performing in all of the aforementioned ways. It is a tough call but not significant for me because I am not full-time professional. I do encourage posting testimonials and photos from your gigs on your website because this is the "proof" in the pudding that you are out in the trenches doing what you claim you can do.

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You can have several markets but you can only market to one of them at a time.

If you have a website that caters to kids birthday parties, corporate events, and everything in between, then nothing you say will connect with the people who want to book you.

People who book kid birthday parties are looking for something different than people who are booking corporate event. Ideally, you want to have different websites for different markets. If you cannot get different websites then have one website that caters to the corporate market and now you can book gigs which are below the corporate market. You can have a corporate entertainer website and book it shows, but you cannot have a kid show website and book corporate gigs.

The reason most magicians don't make money in this field is because they generalize. They want to attack every market thus they attack none.

I like what you're saying. but I don't think you have to wear a suit. I mean, look at Dan Sperry. he is doing great and do you think he wears a suit?

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Dan Sperry is not a corporate magician. His income comes from public shows. If you want to book corporate gigs, you have to look like a corporate entertainer. There are exceptions but there is no reason to fight an uphill battle.

There is no reason to do anything that discredits you and makes your job harder.

Walk around in a suit for one month and notice how differently you're treated. I won't go more into detail about this but I will tell you that image is everything. If you want to charge a million bucks, you have to look like it.

This is not theory. This is something that will make you money. If you change the way you're perceived, you change everything around you.

I understand what you are saying Benji and I definitely agree. If my website, image, etc. all show that I do corporate work, then surely parents will know that I am good enough to do a kids show but not vice versa. I can't have a Silly Billy type look to me on a website with kiddie photos everywhere and expect to book corporate events.

Your last statement is true to a point, because I do a decent job hitting all markets but I bet if I honed in on my skills and just did adult wedding receptions and corporate work, I could make a heck of a lot more than just kid shows. Or...I have to completely go the kid route and be the next silly billy type entertainer in my area and take that up a notch.

#4 - develop different web sites for different markets as well as promo materials to go with them, you can still do several markets but you don't want one web site saying "magic for all occasions". I used to have 4 different web sites and 4 different business cards for each market. That stuff is so inexpensive to put together these days there's no reason NOT to do it this way. - I currently only have 2 sites promoting me, an old one for my college market shows and then my regular dansperry.com site. Once you have word of mouth, a good reputation and are known for a solid show it doesn't matter what you wear etc because once they know that the only place to book YOU is to hire YOU - that's when you've got em'. They can hire a "magician" anywhere - make them want to hire RICK EVERHART. I've done it all from kids b-days to nursing homes and everything in between AND STILL DO. My December last year WAS BOOKED SOLID DOING CORPORATE SHOWS just like it has been every year before that. They know what they're hiring because they want to hire DAN SPERRY just like you want them to want to hire RICK EVERHART.

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